Turns out the pent-up demand amongst iOS users for a mobile version of Chrome is enormous as the app has already skyrocketed to the top of the free download chart in the app store.

Google released the long-awaited Chrome for iOS earlier this week to generally positive reviews. The browser currently maintains a 4.5 star rating in the App Store. Most users are happy with the interfacing and overall browsing experience, but complaints about the browser’s speed keep coming up.

The reason behind the sluggish Chrome for iOS performance is Apple’s fault as the company will not grant third-party developers access to the Nitro JavaScript engine that powers Safari. Still, the slightly slower performance is a minor annoyance compared to the advantages of syncing tabs, bookmarks, across your desktop and mobile device. The release of iOS 6 will bring iCloud syncing of Safari tabs across devices, but the relevance of this for desktop users is questionable considering Chrome is by far the most popular non-mobile browser.

Chrome with the “BrowserChooser” jailbreak app is as close to a Safari replacement as iOS users will likely see. Apple isn’t going to allow third-party developers access to the speedy Nitro JavaScript engine anytime soon, which means Google and other developers need to rely on other features than pure speed to sell their browsers.

I agree, the voice does work very well. I like it a lot. I don't see much of a speed difference though, if anything both safari and chrome are equally matched on my phone (sometimes chrome is faster even). I tested it on two iPhone 4's with Verizon 3G. It's a great browser though, I can see why it's in the top charts.

Downloaded chrome for the iPhone yesterday and really like it! Don't plan on using it much until I can either jailbreak and tweak something to set as default browser or apple at some point allow third party browsers to be set as default. Whichever comes 1st...

I'm giving Chrome iOS a shot, but I don't know how much it will take me away from iCab. I like having the tab bar visible all the time with the ability to go to full screen. Chrome also has pretty much no settings to tweak the experience. If I wanted to use default settings, I'd stick with Safari.